Sound Card (Driver?) stops working after random amount of time

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ne0gen

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Hello,
I have, as I see it, a very unique problem with my computer.
I turn my computer on, and sound works, I can turn on winamp, play music etc.
But, after random amount of time, my sound driver just disappears, when go to
Control Panel and Sound and Audio Devices, it says I have no driver/sound card.

Funny thing is, when I open winamp at the beginning when it works, it continues to play music even when it already says I have no sound, I can even add more stuff to winamp, but ONCE I turn it off, It wont open again because I have no sound drivers!
The amount of time before this happens varies, once it was hour and a half, but not it was only 15 minutes. Of course, Im still listening to music, because I havent turned off winamp yet (although, any other program I start after the malfunction, sound wont work with it).

I tried to reinstall my drivers, but I couldnt find a way how to remove everything from Device manager under "Sound, Audio and Gaming Devices", but nothing changed. When I removed what I could, windows found it as new hardware, but didnt want to install new drivers since "the latest possible version is installed". Sound of course wasnt working, until I installed drivers I downloaded from the net, but then it just returned to where it is now.
Also, right now, device manager tells me everything runs ok, but "Sound" in Control Panel says I have no drivers.

I have no idea what this is, and I want to use system reinstall as last resort, so please, could anyone help me here or give any ideas?

Either how to !really! remove sound drivers so I can put brand new ones in, or
anything else that would come on your mind.

I am using Win XP with (i guess) SP2 on an ASUS F3T laptop, my sound card is onboard Realtek HD, the system runs for year and a half without formatting.

I would really appreciate any help possible and I thank you forwardly.

ne0gen
 
Hello

I have NOD 32 and Spybot Search & Destroy turned on all the time.
Spybot didnt find anything with latest updates, I tried Ewido Security Suite, didnt find anything as well.
Havent tried to run NOD (plus its on all the time), but I dont think it would find anything after these two, or, would it?
 
Hello

I did, it found some two Trojan.Agents, and other stuff. Ive removed it and now Im waiting to see if that worked.
I really wonder how come nothing else found this stuff, so I really thank you for that link!

I hope it will remove the problem
 
I recommend getting rid of NOD32, Spybot and Ewido. Go with Avast free and Glary Utilities free... Run Malwarebytes once a week. Your system will run faster and more stable using these great free protection programs
 
It fixed another problem I had, with web browser not remembering my passwords even when checked, but the sound went off again after an hour or so, Ill try to scan again to see.

Well, I run malwarebytes again when sound went off, it found this:

Files Infected:
C:\System Volume Information\_restore{0572EA5B-92DF-4B2A-9BEA-478D4E332660}\RP523\A0056001.dll (Adware.WinButler) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

It evidently IS something that has to do with sound, I just wonder if now it will work, since it didnt find it when the sound worked, it can be just something that gets created every time the sound goes off, thus "it" not being the problem.

Ill see and refer.
 
Well, just to be sure before I do anything that could worsen my situation - isnt there also a chance, that this file restores my sound before it goes out after every restart, and by disabling system restore and deleting it, Ill have no sound at all right from the beginning?

That would be really unwanted
 
If this file keeps coming back when you run Malwarebytes, you have to go through the "turning off" System Restore instructions I posted at the very least. If you want to keep NOD32, Spybot and Ewido, it is your choice
 
Ook, Ive tried to scan it after the sound went off yesterday, but It didnt find anything, which means it removed it when ti first found it.
I tried to scan now when the sound still works, and it still says the system is clean... but I know it will go off in hour or so again.
So, where does that leave me?

I wonder, could it still be some kind of overheating? Ive noticed that when its colder around here, it works for five hour no problem, but when it gets hotter, it goes off usually after an hour or so (therefore malwarebytes was very useful, but what it found could have had nothing in common with whats happening?).

On the other hand, I guess overheating would cause more problems than just one repeatedly...

I really thank you for your help, but do you have any other ideas?
 
Sound is one of the easiest problems to fix in computers. If you have on-board sound just add a PCI sound card. If you have a PCI sound card, replace it. Sound cards are not expensive. I'm glad your system is cleaner now too
 
Well, now its off right from the beginning, when I turned it on...
Too bad, that really sucks.
I guess it was hardware after all, Ill try something more, maybe Ill reinstall windows, but I dont give it much chances...

Thanks anyways, if Id find anything else, Id let you know. Thanks a lot for your help
 
Remember, you did have some malware nasties too... Do you have a sound card or are you using on-board sound?
 
Well, and now, after restarting (before it was turned off as well), it works again... I have no idea what this could be.
No, I have a laptop, so I guess the only thing would be to get it back to the shop if system reinstall didnt work.
 
You can use a USB audio device attached to a pair of external speakers, if worse comes to worse
 
Yea, I thought of that, except I cant do any instrument recording or so, but thats not that big of a deal right now:)
Anyways, I am afraid, if it is overheating, is there any software I could use to check the temperature? It would really suck to realize that by this "overusage" I fried something.
 
Laptops run hot normally. After 2 or 3 years, motherboard components can fail any time in any way. Have you ever cleaned the CPU cooling assembly?
 
Well, I never did. The history of my laptop is - I have it for almost two years now, the system is as old as the laptop, never reinstalled.
There was one accident when 2dc of red wine went through the whole laptop, but that was about half a year or more ago, and it worked almost flawlessly ever since (except for some things checkdisk repaired luckily).

Is there a safe way how to, lets say, use a vacuum on my laptop? Like putting it close to the exhaust while powered off, seeing if any dust comes out, maybe helping it to "breathe" more again?
I dont want to cause any damage by that.
 
"Is there a safe way how to, lets say, use a vacuum on my laptop? Like putting it close to the exhaust while powered off, seeing if any dust comes out, maybe helping it to "breathe" more again?"

Yes you could try this, but if a lot of dust comes out, a more extensive cleaning may be needed
 
Thanks, Ill try it and see where that gets me.
I will probably reinstall my system anyways soon.

Thanks again
 
Remember, reinstalling your system will do nothing for dust and debris inside the laptop. Invest in a laptop cooler tray, especially if you have the habit of using a laptop on your lap, a bed or on carpet
 
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